Keynote Speaker Announced for the IUS 2025 Conference
The IUS is pleased to announce the keynote speaker for our upcoming international biennial conference in Reston, Virginia, October 24-26, 2025.
The Honorable Michèle Flournoy will bring research and policymaker perspectives to a discussion of “The Future of Defense and Civil-Military Relations.” The fireside chat with moderator Dr. Peter Feaver will address civil-military relations lessons learned, how those lessons might apply in the contemporary context, and research questions she would recommend the community address in the years to come.
Michèle Flournoy is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec Advisors, and a Co-Founder, former Chief Executive Officer, and now Chair of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).
Michèle served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from February 2009 to February 2012. She was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations. She led the development of the Department of Defense’s 2012 Strategic Guidance and represented the Department in dozens of foreign engagements, in the media and before Congress.
Prior to confirmation, Michèle co-led President Obama’s transition team at the Defense Department. In January 2007, Michèle co-founded CNAS, a bipartisan think tank dedicated to developing strong, pragmatic and principled national security policies. She served as CNAS’ President until 2009, and returned as CEO in 2014. In 2017, she co-founded WestExec Advisors, a strategic advisory firm.
Michèle serves on the boards of CNAS, Booz Allen Hamilton, the Council on Foreign Relations, Amida Technology Solutions, and CARE. She serves on a number of advisory boards, including for The Leadership Council for Women in National Security, The Mission Continues, and PIMCO. She is a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and a member of the Aspen Strategy Group. She is a former member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and the CIA Director’s External Advisory Board, and the Secretary of Defense’s Defense Policy Board.
Michèle earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree from Balliol College, Oxford University, where she was a Newton-Tatum scholar.
Peter D. Feaver (Ph.D., Harvard, 1990) is a Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke University. He is Director of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy and Co-PI of the America in the World Consortium. Feaver is author of Thanks for Your Service: The Causes and Consequences of Public Confidence in the US Military (Oxford University Press, 2023), Armed Servants: Agency, Oversight, and Civil-Military Relations (Harvard Press, 2003) and of Guarding the Guardians: Civilian Control of Nuclear Weapons in the United States (Cornell University Press, 1992). He is co-author: with Christopher Gelpi and Jason Reifler, of Paying the Human Costs of War (Princeton Press, 2009); with Susan Wasiolek and Anne Crossman, of Getting the Best Out of College (Ten Speed Press, 2008, 2nd edition 2012); and with Christopher Gelpi, of Choosing Your Battles: American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force (Princeton Press, 2004). He is co-editor, with Richard H. Kohn, of Soldiers and Civilians: The Civil-Military Gap and American National Security (MIT Press, 2001). He has published numerous other monographs, scholarly articles, book chapters, and policy pieces on grand strategy, American foreign policy, public opinion, nuclear proliferation, civil-military relations, and cybersecurity.
From June 2005 to July 2007, Feaver served as Special Advisor for Strategic Planning and Institutional Reform on the National Security Council Staff at the White House where his responsibilities included the national security strategy, regional strategy reviews, and other political-military issues. In 1993-94, Feaver served as Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control on the National Security Council at the White House where his responsibilities included the national security strategy review, counterproliferation policy, regional nuclear arms control, and other defense policy issues. He is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group and is a contributor to “Shadow Government” at ForeignPolicy.com.
Register Now for the IUS 2025 Biennial International Conference
Registration is now available for the IUS Biennial International Conference in Reston, Virginia from October 24 –26, 2025.
The preliminary program and conference hotel reservations are also available.
2025 conference panels will begin Friday morning, October 24th, with panels both morning and afternoon, and the IUS Welcome Reception and Dinner that evening. The conference concludes Sunday, October 26th at noon.
Register by September 15th to take advantage of early registration rates.
If you have any questions or would like to learn about becoming a member of the IUS, please contact the IUS Secretariat at [email protected].
2025 Moskos Award Winner Announced: Matteo Mazziotti di Celso
Date: May 2025
It is our pleasure to announce Matteo Mazziotti di Celso’s as the 2025 Moskos Prize winner with his article “The Impact of Military Policing on Armed Forces: The Case of Italy." Di Celso is a PhD candidate at the University of Genova and a Captain in the Italian Army.
Di Celso explores how military's partnership with police during internal security operations can influence the military profession. His study uses a theoretical framework based on Andrew Abbott's "system of profession" theory, which examines how changes in work dynamics impact a profession. This exploratory, case study of an Italian army joint operation with police analyzes government reports, results of parliamentary inquiry, official declarations, and semi-structured interviews with retired Italian Army officers. His study finds that the expansion of the Italian Army's role in internal security has resulted in the subordination of the military profession to the police. Soldiers were relegated to routine constabulary duties and work under strict supervision of police officers. The article contributes to civil-military relations theory by introducing a preliminary framework to study the effects of military role expansion on the military profession. The research provides insights that can be applied to other cases of military domestic operations, offering a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics and implications of such expansions.
Matteo Mazziotti di Celso is a PhD candidate in Security and Strategic Studies at the University of Genoa. His research focuses on civil-military relations, with a particular emphasis on the domestic use of armed forces in Europe. His dissertation examines the reasons that led Italian governments to deploy the armed forces for domestic policing purposes since the end of the Cold War. Matteo is also a Junior Associate Fellow at the NATO Defence College and a Research Fellow at the Centro Studi Geopolitica.info, where he coordinates the Italy/Europe desk and conducts research on defense and security issues. Before beginning his doctoral studies, he served for eight years in the Italian Army, first as a combat engineer platoon leader and later as a cadet platoon leader at the Italian Army Military Academy.
We extend our gratitude to this Moskos Prize selection committee: Dr. John Sibley Butler (University of Texas at Austin), Dr. Bernard Boene (L'Ecole Superieure Militaire de Saint-Cyr) and Patricia M. Shields (Texas State University).
2024 Moskos Award Winner Announced: Alec Worsnop
Date: April 2025
We are delighted to announce Dr. Alec Worsnop as the winner of the 2024 Moskos Prize for his article “The Rebel and the Politician: Developing a Typology of Insurgent Civil-Military Relations.”
Dr. Worsnop’s work extends Civil-Military Relations (CMR) as he explores the complex, fluid and asymmetric insurgent environment. He asks two basic questions. (1) In what ways do insurgent organizations structure and organize their civil-military relations? (2) How might these patterns influence insurgents' pursuit of political and military goals? In this exploratory, theory building exercise he uses the literature to build an innovative typology that combines and intensive form of civilian control, political integration and the degree of military professionalization. Using this framework and analysis of insurgent groups from Vietnam, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan he found that political integration, a rarely studied form of civilian control in which political decision makers are involved in the details of insurgent military decision making is common in most successful insurgent groups. He concludes by showing how the typology can be used as a springboard for future research on insurgent and state-based CMR in unstable environments. The committee found his work original, ground-breaking, comparative and relevant for theory building.
Alec Worsnop is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. He directs the Military Perspectives Speaker Series and is a Research Fellow in the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM). His research looks into sub-state conflict, with a particular focus on the internal dynamics of non-state armed actors. Other work focuses on military effectiveness and civil-military relations. His book, Rebels in the Field: Cadre and the Development of Insurgent Military Power, forthcoming from Oxford University Press, investigates the battlefield performance of insurgent organizations. His research has appeared in Security Studies, Armed Forces and Society, and Political Science Research and Methods and has been supported by organizations the Department of Homeland Security's National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE), the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School, the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies at George Washington University, the Modern War Institute at West Point, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the Smith Richardson Foundation. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was an affiliate of the Security Studies Program. Previously, he worked for a USAID implementing partner conducting business development for assistance programs in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
Many thanks for the dedicated work of the selection committee composed of Dr. John Sibley Butler (University of Texas at Austin), Dr. Bernard Boene (L'Ecole Superieure Militaire de Saint-Cyr) and Patricia M. Shields (Texas State University).
Armed Forces & Society Announces New Editor-in-Chief: Ori Swed
Date: September 2024
This year the IUS is proud to be celebrating the 50th anniversary of our journal, Armed Forces & Society (AF&S). In 2025 Editor-in-Chief Dr. Patricia Shields will retire after more than two decades of excellent service to the journal and our field of research.
The IUS Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Dr. Ori Swed will become the next editor-in-chief of AF&S. Ori is a political sociologist and Associate Professor at Texas Tech University. He has been an active IUS Fellow and a contributor, reviewer, and editorial board member for AF&S.
Swed brings broad interdisciplinary skills, cutting-edge research, and entrepreneurial experience to this editorial role. His background includes publishing, research, and teaching in sociology, political science, international relations, mathematics, data science, security studies, and terrorism studies. His work addresses emerging trends in our field, such as the outsourcing of war, drone technology, and cyber operations. In 2017 Swed founded the Peace, War, & Social Conflict Laboratory, which promotes experiential learning by involving undergraduate and graduate students in active research projects.
The AF&S editor-in-chief transition period will include an overlap in 2025 to ensure a smooth transition.
If you’d like to connect with Swed in person, he will be participating in the upcoming IUS Canada Conference at Carleton University in Ottawa, 25-27 October 2024 (registration is open now: https://www.iusafs.org/ius-canada-region/) and at the next IUS international conference 23-26 October 2025 in Reston, VA, USA.
We would like to thank the following members for their service on Editor-in-Chief advisory search committee: Pat Shields, David Segal, Richard Chasdi, Morten Ender, Lindy Heinecken, Rene Moelker, Brenda Moore, Don Travis, and Jeremy Teigen.
Please join us in congratulating Swed on his new position and extending our best wishes as he prepares to assume his new responsibilities: [email protected].
Exploring the Nexus of Military and Society at a 50-year Milestone
Date: June 2024
The latest issue of the US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters contains an article by Pat Shields, editor-in-chief of Armed Forces & Society. In "Exploring the Nexus of Military and Society at a 50-year Milestone," Shields traces the history of the military & society field of study using the 50-anniversary of Armed Forces & Society as a touchstone. The article highlights the important role of IUS and its founder, Morris Janowitz and traces the evolution of the field. It is filled with the accomplishments and achievements of IUS members and Armed Forces & Society contributors.
Armed Forces & Society 50th Anniversary: 1974-2024
Founded in 1974, Armed Forces & Society is the leading peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, and international journal publishing on military establishments, civil-military relations, the use and limits of force in armed conflict and peacekeeping operations, security, and other related topics. In 2024, the journal celebrates its 50th anniversary with a series of special anniversary articles which will all available online before being consolidated into a special anniversary print issue provided to all IUS Fellows as part of their membership.
Ryan J. Burch Joins IUS Board of Directors as Executive Director
Date: November 2023
The IUS Board of Directors is proud to announce that Ryan J. Burch has joined the Board as Executive Director of the IUS.
Ryan is a seasoned professional in the realm of anti-financial crime, currently serving as Vice President for the Financial Intelligence Unit at Deutsche Bank. With an extensive career spanning renowned financial institutions, both domestic and foreign, Ryan has honed his expertise in critical areas such as anti-money laundering, anti-fraud, and global sanctions.
Having contributed his skills to industry giants like JPMorgan Chase, Western Union, and USAA, Ryan's journey has been marked by a commitment to maintaining the integrity and security of financial systems worldwide. His experience also includes multiple consulting engagements and extends beyond borders, including a significant stint in Saudi Arabia, where he navigated the complexities of the international financial security landscape. Beyond the financial realm, Ryan's career intersects with the complex arena of civil-military relations and associated peripheral topics, such as security, governance, and international cooperation.
Ryan's academic journey commenced at Loyola University Chicago under the mentorship of distinguished scholars John Allen Williams and Sam Sarkesian, both former Presidents of the IUS. Delving into Political Science during his undergraduate years at Loyola, he furthered his education with a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice and a Master's in International Relations from American Military University. He has also earned the distinguished Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and Certified Fraud Examiner professional designations.
In 2005, Ryan became actively involved with the IUS, initially overseeing conference registration and subsequently shouldering expanding responsibilities over the years. The IUS holds a special place in Ryan's professional and scholarly heart, reflecting his deep appreciation for the critical issues it brings to the forefront of global discourse.
Please join us in thanking Ryan for his continuing service and leadership in the IUS and in welcoming him to this new role.
We would also like to thank Dr. Robert Vitas for his many decades of service to the organization as Executive Director. Vitas is transitioning to the role of IUS Treasurer effective immediately.
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